Speakers

Brittany Needham

Faculty at Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, United States

Brittany Needham received her PhD in the laboratory of M. Stephen Trent, studying the biosynthetic and modification pathways of bacterial cell surface structures and metabolites. She generated and characterized an E. coli library with modified cell surface lipopolysaccharide and immunological profile as an approach to improve vaccine adjuvants. From there Dr. Needham joined Sarkis Mazmanian’s lab as a postdoc, in the pursuit of defining the gut-brain axis through study of bacterial-host interactions in the context of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and anxiety. The Needham lab continues this exploration with particular interest in bacterial metabolites and their influence on host systems.